It's Been Years

-17-

"Al-eeex" I heard Jack call my name for what seemed like the billionth time that afternoon after we got to my place barely 30 minutes ago.

We were settled in the middle of my kitchen, trying to do our English and Music homework, but as always, Jack kept distracting me, and I had to force myself to ignore him most of the afternoon even if I hated to do so.

As per usual, I finished first, getting up from the cold floor and opening a cupboard, I grabbed my favourite peanut butter jar and a big spoon as a reward for finishing homework early, going back where Jack was sitting still, now lying on his stomach and kicking his limbs effortless against the floor whining like a baby, complaining about how difficult his homework was, although him and I had the exact same work to do.

Jack didn't know much about English really; that is why I always ended up finishing his homework for him; basically because I'm that good of a friend.

It wasn't like Jack was stupid for not knowing his own language, he was pretty smart when it came to maths or physics, he was lazy and didn't really care about its importance. Music was our all time favourite subject though, both of us were quite good at guitar and always got straight A's on tests. We even started a band with Rian and Zack, who were in our music class too. They were slowly becoming our best friends.

We practised as much as we could, but high school stopped us from becoming as big as we wanted to be; with all those college applications and everything we needed to do in order to get into a good college, I was losing hope and I really didn't think we would go anywhere with the band.

"Please Jack, do your own homework for once" I told him, already annoyed at my own thoughts. I dipped the spoon in the jar and took a whole tablespoon of heaven into my mouth.

He noticed my annoyed expression and soon stopped playing around. It was weird, almost creepy how well Jack knew me. Every time I was mad, happy, sad, horny, he just knew me so well, he would guess it just by my actions or the expression on my face. He was the best best friend ever.

Jack pouted, making grabby hands for me to help him get up from the floor, which I did.

I hated to know that he cared so much about me; he would feel bad for me and I was aware of that. I always tried not to show much emotion in anything because I knew he would feel the same way I did, even if he were feeling horrible about something.

He wrapped his lanky arms around me and nuzzled his face into my messy hair, he knew that would make me feel safe and protected, he just wanted me to feel better. He knew me better than that though, Jack knew I didn't want to talk it out when something was bothering me, he would never get it out of me, so he never pushed me into telling him what I was thinking.

"Jack" I said, suddenly unsure of what I was thinking that moment.

"Yes?" He mumbled.

"You'd do anything to make me feel better, right?"

I felt him tense for a second, I hadn't worded what I meant to say too well and he took it the wrong way.

"Unless I'd have to do something sexual, then yeah" He laughed lightly.

"Kiss me" I suddenly burped out.

It came out barely like a whisper, but loud enough for him to hear me.

I had no idea where all the sudden confidence came from, Jack was my best friend but in moments like that; when he held me tight like I was his only source of energy and I was so vulnerable and empty, it felt right to like Jack the way I really did deep inside.

I wasn't sure how he would react because we hadn't talked about anything like that before, we didn't really have a reason to do so anyway. I started to doubt my words when Jack didn't make a move for more than a minute; he just kept his face in my hair and his arms wrapped around me.

I pulled away from him, looking at his dark chocolate coloured eyes as he looked back at mine.

"Did you mean that?" He finally spoke with a frown on his face.

I nodded, not being able to let out a word seeing as how nervous I was. I was so embarrassed, I was a mess.

"Well, that could lead to sexual harassment, you know?" He joked.

"Jack" I said serious, making him stop laughing and take what was happening seriously.

Before I could start mentally kicking myself for being so stupid, he was leaning forwards, slightly brushing our lips together before putting a little pressure into the kiss as he held me tight.

It wasn't a passionate kiss, nor just a tiny peck. It was a sensitive, lovely kiss, and I could never ask for anything better knowing that the person I was kissing was Jack Barakat, my best friend.

He pulled away smiling, and damn did I love that stupid smile.

"Mhm peanut butter" He said with a teethy grin before going back to his homework.

"That was really nice" I said blushing like an idiot.

"It was" He said looking up from his notebook.

"Bitch, do your homework now" We laughed awkwardly and kept our distance for the rest of the day.